GM Mesgen Amanov was
unstoppable this weekend at the Midwest Class, winning the Masters section with 4.5
points and racking up victories against fellow GMs Dmitry Gurevich and Alex
Shabalov, before holding on for a draw in a worse position with GM Mark Paragua
in the final round.

GMs Mark Paragua and Mesgen Amanov, Photo Andrea Rosen

Amanov makes his home
in Chicago, where he is a highly regarded chess coach and also the area's
youngest grandmaster.He recently
returned from the Olympiad in Siberia, where he represented his native country
of Turkmenistan.Perhaps playing
against that high-level competition helped sharpen his game. His stellar
performance this weekend helped him gain 35 rating points, no easy feat for a
player over 2500, bringing him to a personal high of 2553.

Mesgen kindly annotated
two of his key Midwest Class games for CLO.

1.d4 e6 2.c4 b6
3.Nf3 f5 4.g3 Ba6 5.Qc2 Nf6 6.Bg2 c6 7.0-0 d5 After an unusual
opening we reach a stonewall pawn structure. Here I decided to take a pawn on
d5 when Black's only reply is to recapture with the c-pawn since exd5 loses the
pawn on f5. 8.cxd5 cxd5
9.Ne5 Bd6 10.Qa4+ b5 11.Qb3 0-0 12.Bf4 Qb6 13.e3 b4 14.Rc1 Ne4 A very strong
move, forcing me to block my bishop. 15.f3 Nf6
16.Nd2 Nh5 17.a3 Be7 A very tricky
move, I can't play h4 because of Bxh4 or even Nxf4 18.axb4 I think this is my
only chance to fight for an advantage. It looks dangerous because I have to
sacrifice my bishop, but all complications are on my side.
18...g5? I think this move
is a mistake; Shabalov played it very quickly.19.Bxg5 Bxg5
20.f4 Now I have the
threat of Bxd5 and at the same time, the bishop is hanging on g5. 20...Be7
21.Bxd5 exd5 22.Qxd5+ Kh8 23.Qxa8 Nxf4 The only chance!
If gxf4?? Rg8+ and White loses. 24.Rxa6 The computer
doesn't like this move and offers Ndc4 with a big advantage. White still has a little
edge after the text, according to Rybka.24...Ne2+? The last mistake.
After 24...Nxa6 25.Rc8 Ne6! (the move I missed), it looks like the endgame is
equal after 26. Nd7 Rxc8 27 Qxc8+ Qd8, but White remains better after 24...Nxa6
25.Rc8 Ne6 26.Nec4 Qb5 27.Qxa7 Rxc8 28.Qxe7 Qe8 29.Qf6+ Kg8 30.d5. 25.Kf2 Qxa6
26.Rc4+- According to
Shabalov this is the move he missed. 26...f4 27.gxf4
Nxf4 28.exf4 Qf6 29.Qe4 Qh4+ 30.Ke3 Qxh2 31.Nef3 Black resigned due
to31...Qh5
32.Qxe7 Re8 33.Rc8 Rxc8 34.Qf6+ Kg8 35.Qe6+ 1-0

1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6
3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Nbd7 6.Qc2 Bd6 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 dxc4 9.Bxc4 a6 10.Rd1 b5
11.Bd3 Qc7 12.Bd2 I wasn't familiar
with this move but it has been played once, according my database. The only
thing I remembered was that I can't play Bb7 due to b4! Eljanov-Aronian
continued with a4! 12...c5 The best move.
13.dxc5 Qxc5
14.b4 Qc7 15.Rac1 Bb7 16.Qb1 Qb8 17.h3 Rc8 18.a4 My engine doesn't
like this move and recommends 18...bxa4 19 Nxa4 Bc6! with a good game for
Black. 18...Bxf3 This is also good
enough to equalize. 19.gxf3 Ne5
20.Be2 Qb7 21.Kg2 Nc4 22.Be1 Be5? I think this is a
blunder. 23.Qb3 My opponent missed
23.axb5 axb5 24. Nxb5! Qxb5 25 Qd3!. The problem is that I can't take on e3
with check, because of Qxe3 and both my queen and bishop are hanging. 23...Nd5
24.Nxd5 exd5 25.f4 bxa4?! ...Bf6 was better,
I thought Nb2 would be good, but it does not work due to Rxc8 Rxc8, Qb3 Nxd1, fxe5
and my knight is trapped. After I played bxa4 I didn't like my position 26.Qxa4 Bf6 27.Bg4
Rd8 28.Qa2 Nb2 29.Rd2 Nc4 I needed draw in
this game to secure clear first place, so I decided to repeat, but my opponents
had another plans. 30.Rdc2 Rab8
31.e4 Bb2? Another mistake.
31...Be7 would be much better. 32.Rxb2 Nxb2
33.Qxb2 dxe4 34.Qe5 Re8 35.Rc7 Rxe5 36.Rxb7 I think my
position is already indefensible though computer gives only += 0.51 36...Ree8
37.Ra7 Rb6 38.Be2 Rg6+ 39.Kh2 Rf6 40.Bd2 g5 41.Rxa6 Rf5 42.Ra5? This move looks
very strong, but I had something in mind! 42...Rxa5
43.bxa5 e3! 44.fxe3 gxf4? 44...Rc8! would be
the best, luckily for my opponent didn't recognize the difference. 45.a6? Kg2 would win, but
all these moves are easy for a computer! 45...Rc8!! Amazing move! I
failed to find any chance for White to win after my move! 46.exf4 46.Bd3 Rd8 47.Ba5
Rd5!; 46.Ba5 Rc5!; 46.Kg1 Rc2 47.a7 Ra2 46...Rc2 47.a7
Ra2 48.Kg3 Rxa7 White remains
better, but I think this is already a draw. 49.Bf3 Ra3
50.f5 Ra4 51.Bg5 Ra6 52.Bg4 Rb6 53.Kh4 Ra6 54.Be7 Ra7 55.f6 Ra5 56.Kg3 Ra4
57.Kf3 Ra5 58.Ke4 Rb5 59.Kd4 Ra5 60.Bc5 Ra1 61.Kd5 Rf1 62.Be7 h5 63.Bc8 Kh7
64.Ba6 Rf3 65.Ke5 Rxh3 66.Kf5 Rg3 67.Bd6 Rg2 68.Bb7 Rg1 69.Bc5 Ra1 70.Be4 Ra5
71.Kf4+ Kg8 72.Bf2 Ra4 73.Ke3 Ra5 I don't remember
exactly the rest of the game, it was a blitz, and I remember that I took a pawn
on f6 with my rook. After this amazing save, I got 4.5 points out of 5 and got
clear first place. ½-½

On what may have been
the last beautiful fall weekend of the year in Chicago, almost 240 chess
players opted to spend it indoors, battling over the board at the Westin Hotel
in Wheeling.

The turnout included
many of the Midwest's top junior players.This meant that many of their parents, instead of enjoying the sun's
warm rays, could be found camped out in the windowless, poorly lit corridor
outside the tournament hall.But no one
seemed to be complaining.

Bryce McClanahan, Photo Andrea Rosen

"My kids have learned
so many life lessons from chess," reflected Dr. Susan McClanahan, a
psychotherapist whose three children, Gavin, Bryce and Emily, were all
playing.Gavin and Bryce have been long
been ranked as among the top players for their age group in the country, and
younger sister Emily has made impressive gains in her performance in the last
few months.Perhaps most important,
says their mom, is what they've learned about the amount of effort it takes to
do something very well."They've
learned that to improve and to be really good at something, you really have to
work at it."

The junior players
were among the biggest gainers in rating points this weekend, and some saw a
considerable boost to their piggy banks as well.

Ten-year-old Conrad
Oberhaus's clean sweep of the Class B section netted him 80 rating points to a
personal high of 1866, along with a check for $1,278.The Class B section saw several strong performances by the age 11
and under crowd.David Peng, already
the country's #2 ranked 7-year-old, finished with 3.5 points to boost his
rating by 72 points toa new high of
1743.Nine-year-old Matthew Stevens and
11-year-old Bryce McClanahan also finished with 3.5 points and had rating gains
of more than 70 points each. In the expert section, teenagers Emily Tallo of
Indiana and Sam Schmakel of Illinois, who were both playing up, finished with
3.5 each and broke 2000 for the first time.

In addition to rating
points and money, many juniors earned the respect and admiration of players
many years their senior.

After the tournament
ended, retired engineer Daumants Hazners, who tied for second in the Class B
section, came to visit with Bryce's dad. "Your son was the only one who beat
me," Hazners said."He wiped me all
over the board, but he played so well I didn't care.It was a beautiful thing to see."

For Bryce's mom, one
of the beautiful things about chess has been the camaraderie across generations.When her boys first started playing, they
had a hard time handling their losses.

But seeing older children and adults who handled
losses with grace and good sportsmanship, along with lots of practice losing,
helped them get over that hump pretty quickly, McClanahan noted."They go over the games with the person they
lost to, and the winners are generally so nice to the losers and show them what
they did wrong or suggest other ideas," McClanahan said."It's an amazing thing to see."